By Hannah Wallace Bowman
Published November 25, 2015
A music awards initiative dedicated to providing young people with the chance to produce songs on themes related to pleasure and sexuality has been born in Kenya.
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The scheme, known as Love Matters Music Awards, encourages young performers to sing about love and sex while inviting members of the public to listen to the songs, comment and vote.
Love Matters Music Awards–the initiative of RNW Media that provides easy-to-access information and news on sexuality and sexual health for young adults around the world–has been working to take some of the things they talk about online back into the real world.
Consequently, young musicians have been working with international sound artists, producers and visual artists to compose and record songs about love, sexual responsibility and relationships that is now online awaiting votes and comments from members of the public.
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Whoever wins The People’s Choice award will get an audio recording of the winning song, as well as a professional music video recording.
The winner will be announced at the live final event incorporating rap, spoken word, music and drama on December 5, 2015 at the Creatives Garage in Nairobi.
The Love Matters Music Awards were inspired by questions and comments raised by the audience on the Love Matters Africa website.
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Through focus groups and online interaction, it was clear that the most important themes people talk about are how pleasure relates to sexual responsibility and why both boys and girls are not talking openly with each other about despite having different expectations of sex and relationships.
